Samoa Government calls for Transition to Energy Efficiency within its Maritime Sector

Samoa – The Samoa government has called upon the maritime transport sector to make shipping safer and more energy efficient in this week’s National Workshop on Energy Efficient Operations of Ships delivered in a joint collaboration of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) through the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre in the Pacific (MTCC-Pacific) project.

The maritime sector is crucial for national development and social cohesion in any modern society, but more so for the Pacific and in this case Samoa, that primarily depend on the sea for commerce, trade and mobility. The sole shipping operator, Samoa Shipping Cooperation (SSC) operates ship occasionally to Tonga, Niue, Fiji and Wallis and Futuna, and regularly to Tokelau; and Pagopago and Manu‘a of American Samoa. Its mission is “to provide seagoing transportation and shipping related services that are; safe and reliable, environmentally friendly and climate resilient, cost effective and profitable in providing high returns to our shareholders.”

In his welcome remarks, the acting CEO of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure (MWTI), Nanai Junior Saaga said that ‘It is important for Samoa to build capacity for climate mitigation from this workshop. Samoa is impacted by global activities but we have to make a strong stand and be resilient to the climate change. As we say in Samoa “Laititi ae maini” meaning “Small but effective contribution”. I encourage each and everyone here to play your part of making small and effective contributions.’

In his opening address, SPC’s Mark Davis, the MTCC-Pacific (Maritime) Transport Greenhouse Gas Adviser, recapped the commitments from MTCC-Pacific in supporting the Pacific region in climate mitigation within the maritime transport sector and was “pleased with the commitment shown by Samoa and confident that the knowledge shared during this week will make a small but positive contribution toward greenhouse gas emission targets”.

Anthony Talouli, Pollution Adviser at SPREP said, “Pacific leaders have raised their concerns on GHG emission at the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) Meeting 72 in 2018 and we are pleased to support MTCC-Pacific with our continuing partnership with SPC and Pacific island countries.”

Domestic ships’ fuel oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced significantly by applying ship energy efficient operational measures and retrofitted technologies. MTCC-Pacific is on the cutting edge of climate-change mitigation and, at the same time, is opening up a world of opportunities for those who participate. The 2.5-day workshop provided participants with an understanding of the latest developments at the international level; new technologies, tools and methods available to monitor and reduce energy from the operations of ships in Samoa, in order to contribute to national efforts to reduce GHG emissions.

The workshop participants agreed to implement relevant actions to continue progress towards safe and energy efficient shipping in Samoa and recognised priority actions such as the implementation of laws and standards, capacity building and gaining access to new technologies.

Meeting Samoa’s target under the Paris Agreement to 100% renewable electricity generation by 2025 is an opportunity to provide clean energy to ports and ships by way of onshore power supply and thereby reduce the use of fossil fuels in the highly energy intensive maritime transport sector.

MTCC-Pacific is part of the Global MTCC Network (GMN), a project implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and funded by the European Union, to build the capacity of developing countries for climate mitigation in the maritime industry and thereby contributing to Samoa’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and broader Sustainable Development Goals e.g. SDG 14 Oceans.

MTCC-Pacific experts will follow-up on the workshop’s learnings in the next days to provide technical assistance to Samoa’s domestic vessels in implementing on board energy management and promote the uptake of low carbon technologies and operations.

The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific. Established in 1947, it gathers 26 Member Countries and Territories and works for the development and advancement of the Pacific peoples. For more information, please visit our website on www.spc.int.